Chương 5
Vivian looked at me.
A small reaction.
Almost approval.
Almost fear.
"You don't understand what you have," Reyes said.
"Then explain it."
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
That silence told me more than an answer would have.
"You can't," I said.
Reyes stepped into the basement.
"I can."
"Then do it."
He looked at the folder.
Then at Vivian.
Then back at me.
"Not here."
I almost laughed.
"Of course not."
"Claire."
"No, really."
I shook my head.
"This entire night has been people telling me what they can't say, what I can't know, where I can't go, and who I can't trust."
My voice sounded louder than I expected.
"I am done being the only person in this room who doesn't get the truth."
Nobody responded.
The worst part was that I could see pieces of agreement on their faces.
They all knew I was right.
They just didn't know how to fix it.
Reyes rubbed his jaw.
"Mara contacted me two weeks before she disappeared."
The sentence stopped everything.
I stared at him.
"What?"
Vivian looked at him sharply.
"You didn't tell her?"
Reyes ignored her.
"She came to the station after midnight."
"Why?"
"Because she believed someone was following her."
My hands went cold.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she made me promise."
I stepped closer.
"My sister vanished, and you kept a promise?"
His eyes met mine.
"She was afraid that if you knew, you would do exactly what you did tonight."
I hated that he was right.
I hated him for being right.
"She said you would try to fix it."
I looked away.
The sentence hit harder because it sounded like Mara.
She had always accused me of trying to rescue people who did not ask to be rescued.
She said I confused love with control.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe that was why I was standing in a hidden basement while three people decided whether I deserved the truth.
"What did she tell you?"
Reyes hesitated.
"She said she found proof that Lydia Vale did not die in an accident."
Vivian looked down.
The reaction was small.
But I saw it.
"You knew."
Vivian did not deny it.
"I suspected."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
She looked at the floor.
"It isn't."
The basement felt suddenly smaller.
I opened the folder.
The first page was a copy of an internal company report.
The name Lydia Vale appeared several times.
Below it were dates.
Payments.
A list of complaints.
I scanned the page quickly.
Nothing made sense yet.
Then I saw the signature.
Evelyn Ashford.
The founder of Ashford Industries.
The woman everyone in town remembered as generous.
The woman whose name was on hospitals, scholarships, and public buildings.
A woman who had spent decades building a reputation no one questioned.
"What is this?"
Reyes stepped closer.
"Careful."
"Why?"
"Because once you know what you're looking at, you can't unknow it."
I looked at him.
"That is the most frustrating sentence anyone has said tonight."
A strange expression crossed his face.
Almost a smile.
Almost.
"Mara said the same thing."
The mention of her name changed the air.
Not because it was new.
Because for the first time, all of us were talking about her like she was still part of the room.
I looked back at the documents.
"Lydia found something."
Vivian nodded slowly.
"She worked in the company records department."
"Doing what?"
"Financial reviews."
"And she found evidence of fraud?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately.
I looked up.
Vivian swallowed.
"She found evidence that someone inside the company had been manipulating records for years."
"Who?"
She looked at the door.
Reyes did too.
That bothered me.
They were both afraid of the same person.
Not each other.
Someone else.
"Who?"
This time I demanded it.
Vivian lowered her voice.
"My brother."
The room went quiet.
I thought about the family portrait upstairs.
Evelyn.
Her husband.
Two children.
One face scratched away.
"Your brother is alive?"
Vivian nodded.
"His name is Adrian."
"Where is he?"
Nobody answered.
That was becoming an answer.
Reyes moved toward the stairs.
"We need to leave."
"Why?"
"Because if Adrian knows you're here, he won't wait."
"Wait for what?"
Reyes looked at me.
"To convince you."
The way he said it made my stomach tighten.
Not hurt me.
Not attack me.
Convince me.
That was somehow worse.
The basement lights flickered.
Everyone looked upward.
A sound came from the floor above.
A door closing.
Vivian's face changed.
"He knows."
I looked at Reyes.
"How?"
Reyes didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
His silence was the confession.
"You told him."
"No."
"Then how does he know?"
Reyes looked at the folder in my hands.
My skin prickled.
The folder.
The documents.
The hidden room.
The way Vivian had given it to me.
The way Reyes had appeared seconds later.
Someone had been tracking the information.
Not me.
The evidence.
"There's a tracker," I said.
Nobody moved.
I looked at the folder.
"You put something in here."
Vivian immediately shook her head.
"No."
Reyes looked toward the desk.
Then he walked over and searched beneath the papers.
After a few seconds, his fingers stopped.
He pulled out a small black device.
Not much bigger than a coin.
My anger arrived before my fear.
"Which one of you?"
Neither answered.
That was the moment I understood something important.
The people around me were not working together.
They were all hiding from each other.
Vivian had secrets.
Reyes had secrets.
Thomas had secrets.
And Mara had known enough to disappear before any of them could decide whether she was a threat.
A loud crash came from upstairs.
Glass breaking.
Reyes moved instantly.
"Back into the passage."
I didn't move.
"Claire."
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"I am not running through another secret hallway while everyone else decides my life."
The crash came again.
Closer.
Vivian grabbed the folder from my hand.
May you like
I pulled it back.
For a second, we struggled.
